Creativity from Without

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This past weekend, while visiting the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco for a class assignment, I came across a piece that really spoke to me. The piece, called Mountains and Rivers, is part of artist Cai Guo-Qiang's Gunpowder series. At first glance, the "painting" was reminiscent of traditional Chinese and Japanese painting, with refined brushstrokes, their lines forming the shapes of nature. Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered that the artist was inspired by something outside of nature, something entirely manmade--gunpowder.

To create his pieces, Cai Guo-Qiang lays out a pattern on his canvas in gunpowder, much in the way a painter may first do a study for a piece in pencil. He then adds pieces he finds in nature--rocks, dirt, sand, leaves, twigs--to add to the pattern that will be left behind by the blast of the gunpowder. Once he is satisfied with a design, he covers the canvas with cardboard and lights the gunpowder, setting off a miniature explosion in his workshop. What is left behind is the impression of the lines of gunpowder and the natural pieces accessorizing the space.

In working with gunpowder, the artist is creating art that is both constructive and destructive. The destructive, explosive qualities of the gunpowder leave impressions and residue that are the construction of the art itself.

To learn more about Cai Guo-Qiang and his work, visit his website.